Quirky Freeview display issues

[MadamJ]

I know that I'll get a raking here for being a blonde female unfamiliar with the digital pain-in-the-neck mess the govt got us into. But my partner bought a small LCD freeview-ready Toshiba tv to replace a perfectly good tele in my kitchen. We live in Scotland and will be forced to switch in September, so have to work this out eventually. The tv signal comes in for most of the basic freeview channels and works well for BBC 1+2; ITV and C4 are fine until I: 1) run hot water for dishes, 2) get out my steam iron & start ironing, or 3) start cooking dinner. See a trend here? I cannot imagine that moist, warm air should affect a tv's reception, but it does seem to present a pattern.

I'm personally angry that we are all now forced to either replace perfectly good equipment, or buy additional hardware and services to watch something that we've already paid for. And the govt claim to be 'green' - watch the landfills fill up! (Sorry, rant over..)

Thanks for any advice (bet you say to buy an amplifier, modulator, or new antenna...).

 

[ericmark]

I do feel sorry for those up North. Here in Wales change over is complete but it's been hell. Near every time I switch on the TV it wants to re-tune. The program numbers have changed on regular basis. Programs switch off at 6pm just as one is about to start watching. And I have given up and installed Sky and also have a free to air sky box.

However in Scotland the dishes needed are bigger and not so easy to use Sky.

I would not think the damp is affecting the TV although it could be volt drop or some other odd link. Time of day does seem to have an effect of freeview with not only programs like Yesterday switching off at odd times like 6pm but also as it gets dark TV signals do change in the way they propagate and I would guess on weak signal and that being problem.

However most TV's designed for freeview have a bar graph or similar to allow you to monitor signal mainly so aerial can be aimed as old getting better does not work.

So step one read instructions and get the signal strength indicator to show.

If that shows low then likely when analogue is turned off power for digital will go up so it will sort it's self out.

 

[ninjacat]

Are you running of an internal ariel?. Could be interference caused by electrical switching of high loads (guessing you have a combi boiler that kicks in when you do the hot water).

Best to use an external ariel. Also check that it is suitable for the channels that are transmitting the digital signals. Stick your details in this site for info regarding your local transmitter - http://www.wolfbane.com/cgi-bin/tvd.exe?

I'm personally angry that we are all now forced to either replace perfectly good equipment, or buy additional hardware and services to watch something that we've already paid for. And the govt claim to be 'green' - watch the landfills fill up! (Sorry, rant over..)

Sorry, but welcome to the modern world where everything has to "improve". Your DVD player is replaced by Blu Ray, soon to be replaced by holographic, solid state storage.

There has been plenty of time to upgrade to freeview, integrated TVs have been around for years and set top boxes are dirt cheap. - rant over

edit for tidying up naff spelling and adding link that I forgot.

 

[plugwash]

Anyone else had trouble finding decent set top boxes. A lot of the older ones seemed to die within a few years and a lot of the newer ones seem to have terrible remote control range.

 

[ninjacat]

Humax so far has been best for me. Solid and reliable but more expensive than the stuff the supermarkets sell.